Why I Don’t Vaccinate My Child

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I usually keep quiet on the vaccine topic. The debate tends to get very ugly so I just close my mouth and go find someone else to talk to most of the time. The few times I have ventured to say something, I’ve been met with a lot of criticism. Most of it coming from people I know and care about. Most of it is spoken quickly and with an air of righteous indignation. Most of the time, they don’t know our story. It’s not the sort of thing you start talking about on the playground with girlfriends.

I recently read a letter one mom wrote to her friends who don’t vaccinate their kids. It changed me. In the letter, she respectfully lays down her difference of opinion without bashing or calling her friends stupid. She doesn’t effectively end their friendship or create tons of drama. If my friends wrote me a letter like that one, I have to admit I’d be a little surprised but glad that they didn’t do like some of my other “friends” and attack me on Facebook.

So here it is, the truth that you might not be thinking about when you choose to be mean to people who don’t vaccinate.  We don’t vaccinate. I cloth diaper, practice extended breast feeding, love essential oils, try to eat organic, make my own baby food, and we wear our babies around in flower patterned mei tai wraps while drinking herbal tea with honey. I don’t trust any of those things to protect my child from infectious diseases. I take them to the doctor and, when they need it, I don’t turn down the antibiotics. I have my own copy of the American Academy of Pediatrics hand book and during the first year I consulted it like a mommy bible. 

But we don’t vaccinate. A lot of people think they know why. The first time we turned down a vaccine our pediatrician gave me a lecture about how vaccines don’t cause Autism. Our reasons have nothing to do with Autism.  Then our pediatrician gave us two handouts. One was a paper stating that if we didn’t vaccinate against chicken pox our son would probably catch it and die. What? Those little red bumps that made me itch for a week and have to take lots of oatmeal baths will kill my son? 

The second paper he gave us was an article written for the Huffington Post by a mom who encouraged everyone to vaccinate their children for the kids battling cancer who can’t have vaccines. That one really got under my skin. Now I think I need to tell you why we don’t vaccinate.

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